Dogs with seizures

I have a pekinese who suffers from epilesy. I found out about nine months ago. I am really lucky she has a wonderful vet who keeps me updated with all the current information. Understanding her and what we as the care givers want.

She had not had a seizure in nine months until this last week. Unfortunately my vet was not there on the day and the person filling in would not follow the already prearranged guidelines we had set up for Doorie.

Finally we got my vet to call back and he attempted to explain that we had taken care of Doorie at home as she cannot be caged and left unattended.

That I am quite capable of administering both her IV and other care.

I think that as pet owners we have the right to ask for the same care we would and get it.

I have done home health, hospice, critical care and believe it or not now I take care of my ailing pets at home rather than stick them in an institution.

The response to this was she had worked too hard for her license to loose it on one case.

Needless to say this did not go down too well.

My doctor then had to call all her med in to walgreens, can you believe it.

The center they wanted to send her to does not have 24 hour care.

Doorie seized during the night and luckily I had the meds to give her.

The following day her lab results came back and I was called to give her an IV bolus of phenobarb, which I did.

Doorie is doing much better today, her iv is out and she is playing for short periods, eating great and she knows she is home.

Just a question if in home health we can do all these things and not treated as morons, why is it so different with pets that we consider so close to us.

I spoke to my vet and he has now given me all emergency meds to keep at home. I hope I won't need them, however it beats having nothing. Doorie was in a daze for 3 days, today she is back to bossy and happy.

Home care for pets I say as long as you can handle it and as Nurses we are not morons, knowing the signs, correct dosages and abnormalities are what we are about.

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Because sometimes what you can do for people doesn't quite work out as well when you try to do it for your pet. The vet wouldn't have been doing his job if he just assumed you were capable. We do the same thing when someone says "Oh, I can take care of (insert family member). I'm a nurse." Sometimes you find out the person really isn't a nurse at all.

Besides that, it can be very hard to be objective when it's your furbaby who's sick. Personally, I think the vet was right to question. Animal care isn't people care. She has a license to protect and she was right to say so; she wasn't familiar with you, after all.

I hope your dog is feeling better.

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i so relate to this! my wonderful doggie kahlan started to have seizures last year. she is 9 years old and we didn't know much about her as we adopted her when she was 8 from the pound. we took her to the vet and, like you, it was a vet who didn't know us and when we asked this vet what she thought the cause of the seizures were she said "something in the brain" duh!! fortunately our vet knows us (we are both rns) and knows we were asking for a bit more info. she was more than happy to let us make informed choices and give meds at home. she still has breakthrough seizures, but is happy and spoiled!!!

i hope all is well with your doggie and will keep her and you in my prayers

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I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with the veterinarian. I am glad that Doorie is doing better. I can understand the veterinarian's point of view as well as yours. See I'm a CVT (Certified Veterinary Technician).

Sadly I get treated the same way whenever I go to the doctor. I get treated like an uneducated, ignorant dope because I work with animals and not people. It doesn't matter that I went to school, passed the national test, and have been in practice for over 16 years.

As far as the vet needing to call the prescriptions into Walgreen's that also becoming a standard practice in many areas. This is because many vet hospitals have stopped keeping controlled drugs on the premises because of theft and paperwork. Heck most doctors would send me to the pharmacy to pick up medications because they don't have an in clinic pharmacy.

Sadly whenever I have a breakthrough seizure, I end up at the hospital as the human medical people don't think that my husband can give me injectable medication to stop the seizures. It doesn't matter that he's an EMT.

Fuzzy

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As I have since found out as my regular vet was very appologetic when he found out what had happened, is that I have the right as he already knows me and so does the staff at the clinic, that the problem was passed on to him through his office manager.

Doorie now has her regular meds at home as well as enough should this ever happen again during the night as the closet emergency clinic is an hour away. As well as a standing order.

The other vet by the way did call back and apologise tonight after I had written this.

I just could not think of having to drive her for an hour having grand mal seizures and doing nothing. That is more dangerous for her.

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